GRIEF AND PAIN.
It was even worse than I feared. Reckoning neither on a longer voyage than
five or six days nor on being so far from the coast that, in case of
emergency, we could not obtain fresh supplies, we had used both provisions
and water rather recklessly, and now I found that of the latter we had no
more than, at our recent rate of consumption, would last eighteen hours,
while of food we had as much as might suffice us for twenty-four. It was
necessary to reduce our allowance forthwith, and I put it to Yawl whether
we could not make for some nearer port than Callao. Better risk the loss
of my diamonds than die of hunger and thirst. Yawl's answer was
unfavorable. The nearest port of the coast as to distance was the farthest
as to time. To reach it, the wind being north by west, we should have to
make long fetches and frequent tacks, whereas Callao, or the coast
thereabout, could be reached by sailing due north. So there seemed nothing
for it but to economize our resources to the utmost and make all the speed
we could. Yet, do as we might, it was evident that, unless we could obtain
a supply of food and water from some passing ship we should have to put
ourselves on a starvation allowance. I was, however, much less concerned
for myself and the others, than for Angela. Accustomed as she had been to
a gentle, uneventful, happy life, the catastrophe of Quipai, the anxieties
we had lately endured, and the confinement of the sloop, were telling
visibly on her health. Moreover, Kidd's death, richly as he deserved his
fate, had been a great shock to her. She strove to be cheerful, and
displayed splendid courage, yet the increasing pallor of her cheeks and
the sadness in her eyes, showed how much she suffered. We men stinted
ourselves of water that she might have enough, but seeing this she
declined to take more than her share, often refusing to drink when she was
tormented with thirst.
And then there befell an accident which well-nigh proved fatal to us all.
A gust of wind blew the mainsail (made of grass-cloth) into ribbons, the
consequence being that our rate of sailing was reduced to two knots an
hour, and our hope of reaching Callao to zero.
Meanwhile, Angela grew weaker and weaker, she fell into a low fever, was
at times even delirious, and I began to fear that, unless help speedily
came, a calamity was imminent, which for me personally would be worse than
the quenching of Quipai. And when we were at the last extremity, mad with
thirst and feeble with fasting, help did come. One morning at daylight
Yawl sighted a sail--a large vessel a few miles astern of us, but a point
or two more to the west, and on the same tack as ourselves. We altered the
sloop's course at once so as to bring her across the stranger's bows, for
having neither ensign to reverse, nor gun wherewith to fire a signal of
distress, it was a matter of life and death for us to get within
hailing-distance.
"What is she! Can you make her out?" I asked Yawl, as trembling with
excitement, we looked longingly at the noble ship in which centered our
hopes.
"Three masts! A merchantman? No, I'm blest if I don't think she's a
man-of-war. So she is, a frigate and a firm 'un--forty or fifty guns, I
should say."
"Under what flag?"
"I'll tell you in a minute--Union Jack! No, stars and stripes. She belongs
to Uncle Sam, she do, sir, and he's no call to be ashamed of her; she's a
perfect beauty and well handled. By--I do believe they see us. They are
shortening sail. We shall be alongside in a few minutes."
"Who are you and what do you want?" asked a voice from the frigate, so
soon as we were within hail.
"We are English and starving. For God's sake, throw us a rope!" I
answered.
The rope being thrown and the sloop made fast, I asked the officer of the
watch to take us on board the frigate, as seeing the condition of our boat
and ourselves, I did not think we could possibly reach our destination,
that my wife was very sick, and unless she could have better attention
than we were able to give her, might not recover.
"Of course we will take you on board--and the poor lady. Pass the word for
the doctor, you there! But what on earth are you doing with a lady in a
craft like that, so far out at sea, too?"
Without waiting for an answer to his question, the officer ordered a
hammock to be lowered, in which we carefully placed Angela, who was
thereupon hoisted on the frigate's deck. We men followed, and were
received by a fine old gentleman with a florid face and white hair, whom I
rightly conjectured to be the captain.
"Well," he said, quietly, "what can I do for you?"
"Water," I gasped, for the exertion of coming on board had been almost too
much for me.
"Poor fellow! Certainly. Why did I not think of it before? You shall have
both food and drink. Somebody bring water with a dash of rum in it--not
too much, they are weak. And Mr. Charles, tell the wardroom steward to get
a square meal ready for this gentleman. Might I ask your name, sir?"
"Nigel Fortescue."
"Thank you, Mr. Fortescue. Mine is Bigelow, and I have the honor to
command the United States ship Constellation. Here's the water! I hope you
have not forgotten the dash of rum, Tomkins.--There! Take a long drink.
You will feel better now, and when you have had a square meal, you shall
tell me all about it. And the others? You are an old salt, anybody can see
that."
"Yes, sir. Bill Yawl at your service, an old man-o'-war's man, able-bodied
seaman, bo's'n, and ship's carpenter, anything you like sir. Ax your
pardon, sir, but a glass of half-water grog--"
"Not until you have eaten. Then you may have two glasses. Tomkins, take
these men to the purser and tell him to give them a square meal. The
doctor is attending to your wife, Mr. Fortescue. She is in my state-room
and shall have every comfort we can give her."
"I thank you with all my heart, Captain Bigelow. You are really too good,
I can never--"
"Tut, tut, tut, my dear sir. Pray don't say a word. I have only given her
my spare state-room. Mr. Charles will take you to the ward-room, we can
talk afterward. Meanwhile, I shall have your belongings got on board, and
then, I suppose, we had better sink that craft of yours. If we leave her
to knock about the ocean she may be knocking against some ship in the
night and doing her a mischief."
After I had eaten the "square meal" set for me in the ward-room, and spent
a few minutes with Angela, I joined the captain and first lieutenant in
the former's state-room, and over a glass of grog, told them briefly, but
frankly, something of my life and adventures.
"Well, it is the queerest yarn I ever heard; but I dare say none the less
true on that account," said Captain Bigelow, when I had finished. "With
that sweet lady for your wife and your belt full of diamonds, you may
esteem yourself one of the most fortunate of men. And you did quite right
to get away from that place. But what was your point? where did you expect
to get to with that sloop of yours?"
"Callao."
"Callao! Why the course you were on would never have taken you to Callao.
Callao lies nor' by east, not nor' by west. If you had not fallen in with
us, I am afraid you would never have got anywhere."
"I am sure we should not. Three days more and we should have died of
thirst."
"Where shall we put you ashore?"
"That is for you to say. Where would it be convenient?"
"How would Panama suit you?"
"It is just the place. We could cross the isthmus to Chagres; but before
going to England, I should like to call at La Guayra, and find out whether
my friend Carmen still lives."
"You can do that easily; but if I were you, and had all those diamonds in
my possession, I would get home as quickly as possible, and put them in a
place of safety. There are men who would commit a thousand murders for one
of them."
"Well, I shall see. Perhaps I had better consign them to London through
some merchant, and have them insured."
"Perhaps you had, especially if you can get somebody to insure the
insurer. And take my advice, don't tell a soul on board what you have told
us. My crew are passably honest, but if they knew how many diamonds you
carried about you, I should be very sorry to go bail for them."
As I went on deck after our talk, I was met by the surgeon.
"A word with you, Mr. Fortescue," he said, gravely, taking me aside, "your
wife--"
"Yes, sir, what about my wife?" I asked, with a sudden sinking of the
heart, for the man's manner was even more portentous than his words.
"She is very ill."
"She was very ill, and if we had remained longer on the sloop--but
now--with nourishing food and your care, doctor, she will quickly regain
her strength. Indeed, she is better already."
"For the moment. But she is very much reduced and the symptoms are grave.
A recurrence of the fever--"
"But such a fever is so easily cured. I know what you are hinting at,
doctor. Yet I cannot think--You will not let her die. After surmounting so
many dangers, and being so miraculously rescued, and with prospects so
fair, it would be too cruel."
"I will do my best, sir, you may be sure. But I thought it my duty to
prepare you for the worst. The issue is with God."
* * * * *
This is a part of my story on which I care not to dwell. Even yet I cannot
think of it without grief and pain. My dear wife was taken from me. She
died in my arms, her hand in mine, as sweetly and serenely as she had
lived. But for Captain Bigelow and his officers I should have buried
myself with Angela in the fathomless sea. I owed him my life a second
time--such as it was--more, for he taught me the duty and grace of
resignation, showed me that, though to cherish the memory of a great
sorrow ennobles a man, he who abandons himself to unmeasured grief is as
pusillanimous as he who shirks his duty on the field of battle.
Captain Bigelow had a great heart and a chivalrous nature. After Angela's
death he treated me more as a cherished son than as a casual guest. Before
we reached Panama we were fast friends. He provided me with clothing and
gave me money for my immediate wants, as to have attempted to dispose of
any of my diamonds there, or at Chagres, might have exposed me to
suspicion, possibly to danger. In acknowledgement of his kindness and as a
souvenir of our friendship, I persuaded him to accept one of the finest
stones in my collection, and we parted with mutual assurances of goodwill
and not without hope of meeting again.
Ramon of course, went with me. Bill Yawl, equally of of course, I left
behind. He had slung his hammock in the Constellation's fo'castle, and
became captain of the foretop.